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Jesse Lacey
Jesse Lacey is a Long Island musician most famous for his work in the band, Brand New. In 2008, he and Brand New started a label, Procrastinate! Music Traitors. Early Years and The Rookie Lot Jesse Lacey was born in Levittown on July 10, 1978. Growing up, he was friends with musicians like Brandon Reilly, John Nolan, and Garrett Tierney (who was his neighbor). He began music in his sophomore year in high school at the South Shore Christian School when John Nolan told him to play bass guitar for the school talent show with their band, Gudmunder Bjornsen. In 1998, John Nolan began playing with Eddie Reyes and Jesse Lacey began playing with Garrett Tierney and Brian Lane, a drummer. Garrett introduced Jesse to guitarist Brandon Reilly who joined on guitar. Alex Dunne also joined on guitar and the band was complete. The Rookie Lot as it was called, was a Melodic Hardcore band from Levittown who was strongly influenced by Lifetime, and played with bands like Silent Majority and Glassjaw. They recorded a five track demo, and a split with Yearly. In 1999, the band disbanded when Jesse went to play bass for Taking Back Sunday. Taking Back Sunday When Jesse joined on bass and backing vocals, the group was ready to record their first EP. The first two songs they recorded, "Go On" and "Summer Stars". Brand New After this, he began playing music with Garrett Tierney again, who was his neighbor. Brian Lane was brought in on drums, and the trio began collecting old songs from their high school years and reworking them. They then asked then 17-year old, Vin Accardi to join on guitar. He accepted when he heard them play "The Shower Scene". Thus, Brand New was born. Since then, the band has toured the world, released four very successful full length albums, and have acquired a huge fanbase, making them one of the most famous bands to ever come from Long Island. Influence He is influenced by Morrissey, The Smiths, and has alluded to their work on Brand New's debut album, Your Favorite Weapon. He also frequently covers Neutral Milk Hotel songs. He has close ties with John Nolan despite their famous feud over Jesse Lacey's previous girlfriend which was captured in the songs "Seventy Times Seven" by Brand New and "There's No "I" in Team" by Taking Back Sunday. John's former band Straylight Run frequently tours with Brand New and the two combine each other's songs to form medleys, although John has returned to Taking Back Sunday in spring 2010, and is working on a new album with them and their original lineup. Untitled Demos In January 2006, nine untitled demos recorded for the album were leaked to the Internet. In response to the leak, Lacey said, "It had me pretty down for a while. No one likes to show their creation in mid-process, and those songs weren't done. They were like blueprints. Just the plan, right? It put me in a state where I was under the impression that those songs had been wasted or something—that we had to go and write new things because those had been heard. Now, in retrospect, I want those songs to be on the album and many of them aren't, and I'm probably more to blame for that than anyone. This record already feels incomplete to me without those tracks and probably will forever." Other Work Jesse has also been featured in Kevin Devine's songs: "Cotton Crush", "After Party", and "No One Else's Problem" off of his album, "Split the Country, Split the Street". He has also toured with Kevin Devine as a solo artist. He declined an offer from Max Bemis of Say Anything to do back up vocals on the album, In Defense of the Genre. He played bass on the song, "Rocket" on the album This Is a Landslide by the band Intramural. Discography *The Rookie Lot Demo (as The Rookie Lot (1998) *The Rookie Lot/Yearly Split 7'' (as The Rookie Lot (1999)'' *Brand New Demo (as Brand New, 2000) *Brand New Second Demo (2001) (as Brand New, 2000) *Taking Back Sunday EP (as Taking Back Sunday, 2001) *Your Favorite Weapon (as Brand New, 2001) *Brand New/Safety in Numbers Split EP (as Brand New, 2002) *Deja Entendu Demo (2003, as Brand New *Deja Entendu (as Brand New, June 17, 2003) *The Holiday EP (as Brand New, Dec. 15, 2003) *Split the Country, Split the Streets (backing vocals on "Cotton Crush", "After Party", and "No One Else's Problem") (May 10th, 2005) *Untitled Demos (as Brand New , leaked in 2006. aka "Fght ff Yr Dmns", consisting of 9 untitled raw demos. Two are used on their next album, one is remastered and released digitally via iTunes, and one is a track on the "Sowing Season (Yeah)" single) *The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (as Brand New, Nov 21, 2006) *Daisy (as Brand New, September 22, 2009) Category: Musicians Category: Record Label Executives